Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
I am frequently perplexed by post office and bank clerks calling out “next on line”.
Can anyone tell me why they do this?
I want to ask them whether they think we inhabit an electronic never land. They must do, otherwise why would they think we are “on line” as opposed to “in lineâ€?
E-mails and instant messaging have encouraged sloppy writing. I am sad to see that that terms like these are slinking across the boundaries that divide real conversations and e-chats, because when they do, they bring along their close companions of linguistic laziness and general laissez-faire, to infect everyone’s perceptions.
sigh More than the error itself, it’s the slovenly thinking preceding it that annoys me.
I love good conversation. Good grammar is as lovely as clear skies in early summer. : )
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Huh. Store clerks in my neck of the woods often say “I can help who’s next!”—but I’ve never heard someone say “on line” in that context. I wonder whether this is a regional thing. Do you mind if I ask where you live (approximately)?
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“On line” is a classic New Yorkism. I know that it’s current not only in the metropolitan area, but also in Albany. I don’t think it’s heard regularly anywhere else in the country.
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Perhaps I should add that “on line” was already current in my NY childhood, almost 50 years ago. It is a dialect feature. It has nothing to do with the Internet. It is not sloppy or lazy or slovenly. I have said it all my life, and my speech is not lazy, ignorant, sloppy or slovenly. Please mind your manners in this forum, as well as other people’s grammar. And “on line” is no less logical than an Anglicism like “different to.” Pronoun choice in idioms is highly arbitrary.
PS. I also call the front steps the “stoop.” And I drink “cawfee.” Wanna make something of it?
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‘on line’ is actually a very famous shibboleth for New Yawkers. Nothing wrong, illogical, or slovenly about it. And it’s certainly not an eggcorn.
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